Snow already piled high, ski areas open gates

1of13Nearly two feet of fresh snow accumulated at Sugar Bowl / Royal Gorge over the Thanksgiving holiday, allowing the resorts to open six days early on Sunday November 23, 2018.Photo: Sugar Bowl Resort

2of13Nearly two feet of fresh snow accumulated at Sugar Bowl / Royal Gorge over the Thanksgiving holiday, allowing the resorts to open six days early on Sunday November 23, 2018.Photo: Sugar Bowl Resort

10of13Homewood Mountain Resort, above the west shore of Lake Tahoe, readies for its season opener on FridayPhoto: Tom Stienstra, Courtesy Homewood Mountain Resort

11of13Good news for snowboarders: Mammoth Mountain is reporting that it has already received 100 inches of snow at its summit.Photo: Andrew Miller / Mammoth Mountain

12of13A snow cat returns after making a grooming run at the Kirkwood Mountain Resort Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, in Kirkwood, Calif. A More than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow has fallen at some ski resorts around Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service in Reno reported more than 2 feet (61 cm) of snow was recorded on the ridgetops early Thursday in the southern Sierra south of the mountain lake where as much as 5 feet (1.5 meters) is possible by the weekend. (Kirkwood Mountain Resort via AP)Photo: Associated Press

13of13Sign of the times: Early snow in the Tahoe Basin will allow all ski areas to openPhoto: Tom Stienstra / Courtesy Homewood Mountain Resort

Across the flank of the Tahoe Basin, miles of forest are glazed with a white frost and tree branches are flexing under the weight of snow.

This is the first week of December?

The scenes across the Sierra Nevada and Shasta-Cascade ranges are a testament to early-season storms that have swept across the high country in Northern California.

In contrast with last year, all 23 ski areas — big and small — are projected to be open by the Dec. 14-16 weekend, just in time for a banner Christmas holiday season.

Along Highway 89 near Tahoma on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, you can stand at Homewood Mountain Resort and see snow stretching from your boot tips to the crest. Ice-encrusted Ellis Peak towers overhead like a giant serac. Earlier this week, scarcely a breath of wind whispered off Lake Tahoe.

Homewood, set just above lakeside at 6,230 feet, will open for the season Friday, a landmark early opener. Because of its low elevation, it is typically the last Tahoe ski area to open.

“If it’s good at Homewood, you know it’s good everywhere,” said Kaersten Swain, a member of Homewood’s guest-services unit, as preparations continued for the opener.

The base at Sugar Bowl is between 26 and 55 inches with 78 inches of snow having already fallen this season.

Photo: Vincent Zacha-Herthel / Sugar Bowl Resort

Compared with last year, the High Sierra this year is mind-boggling. At this time (and well past Christmas) last year, for instance, Homewood, Dodge Ridge, Yosemite and Mount Shasta were dealing with bare dirt.

Others were trying to make a sell job, that even if the ground was bare at the parking lots and lodges, don’t worry, just take the lift and somewhere on the mountain, the snow will start to appear. In some cases, that consisted of strips of homemade stuff that was edged by dirt and trees.

This year, Boreal opened Nov. 13 and each week since then has brought with it more snow. And with the snow piling up, ski areas across the Sierra are scrambling to call in employees and make new hires to open the gates. Most are looking at a season of at least 150 days — one that is expected to stretch into early April.

“As best as we can figure, this snow is from heaven,” said Janet Tuttle at Donner Ski Ranch, the ski area just south of Interstate 80 that plans to open Friday.

Mammoth Mountain, 150 miles south of Lake Tahoe, claims the most snowfall and highest snowpack in North America. On Wednesday morning, the resort said its summit had topped 100 inches for the season, with a 40-inch base at the lodge and 70-inch base on top. That is enough to open 94 of 150 runs, with more lifts and runs expected to open this weekend, plus three terrain parks.

“The snow is cold, light and velvety,” said Justin Romano at Mammoth. “Get after it.”

In the parlance of the time, you can head to the pow with your planks or lunch tray, and then bomb, schuss, carve, gnar and shred, and then perhaps also dump, biff, buy it or yard sale. The lingo, you will discover, is less confusing than the pricing of lift tickets.

I contacted every Sierra ski area this week, in part to collect and post this year’s prices of lift tickets, and found a confusing collage that make it near impossible to compare same-day, walk-up window rates.

Some places, like Northstar, don’t publish window rates. Instead, you get advance pricing, flex pricing, multiday pricing, and weekday, weekend and holiday pricing. You often can get discounts by buying in advance, or for your age (youth or seniors), or by being active military.

In low snow season, like last winter, many people felt leveraged by ski areas that compelled you to buy in advance, regardless of what the weather and conditions might bring.

This year, with so many choices — and so much snow to start the season — you can find your match.

Tom Stienstra is the outdoors writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is America’s first Back Country Sportsman of the Year and the only two-time National Outdoor Writer of the year. In 2008, he won first place for best outdoors column in America. As a photographer with The Chronicle, he won first place in America for best outdoors feature image in 2011. That year he was also awarded as Far West Ski Writer of the Year. His books have sold more than 1 million copies. His first novel, "The Sweet Redemption, An Inspector Korg Mystery," was released for 2013. His television show on CBS/CW won first place as America’s best outdoor recreation show, and his radio show on CBS won first place in 2010 for best environmental feature show in America. Tom has hiked 25,000 miles, caught world-record fish, led dozens of expeditions and taken part in all phases of the outdoor experience. He was the fourth living member inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame.